Pleasure-railway.



G. H. MGIEHAN.

PLEASURE RAILWAY.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 27, 1908.

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PLEASURE RAILWAY.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 27, 1908.

Patented Aug. 3, 1909.

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APPLICATION FILED JUNE 27, 1908.

Patented Aug. 3, 1909.

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CORNELIUS H. MGIEHAN, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY.

PLEASURE-RAILWAY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 3, 1909.

Application filed June 27, 1908. Serial No. 440,776.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CORNELIUS H. MGIE- HAN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Jersey City, county of Hudson, and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pleasure-Railways, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates more particularly to amusement devices, commonly known as shoot-the-chutes.

The primary object of the invention is to provide an effective device or apparatus of the class referred to, in which a movable vessel or object adapted to hold passengers may be made to descend an inclined track-way by gravity and to be submerged in a body of water as it descends the track-way without injury to the passengers within the vessel, and which, after passing beneath the surface of the water for a part of its travel will rise again to the surface, thus aflording an exciting and interesting trip for the passengers carried by the vessel.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple and efficient vessel in which the passengers may be held within a water-tight compartment in such a way that they may readily see outside the vessel and in which sufficient air for breathing purposes may be supplied to the passengers while within the same.

The invention will be hereinafter more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which form a art of this specification, and will then be pointed out in the claims at the end of the descrip tion.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a lan view, diagrammatic, showing on a smal scale one means embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation, partly in section, of the device as shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical section, partly in elevation, of the vessel. Fig. 4 is a plan view. Fig. 5 is a transverse section; and Fig. 6 is a front elevation.

While I have shown the invention as applied in a particular way, and a vessel or other object of a particular form, it will be understood that the application of the invention may be varied and the form of the ves sel changed to suit the various uses to which the invention may be put. 4

The track way 10 may be of any suitable form and may be made in any desired way.

As shown it is substantially U-shaped and. comprises an inclined part 11 along which one or more vessels or other objects 12 are adapted to be elevated, as by an endless carrier, not shown, until the said vessel reaches the curved part 13 which terminates in a downwardly-inclined track-way 14 for the vessels to pass by gravity.

The tank or lake 15 or other body of water of suflicient depth to submerge the vessel, and the part 14 may be continued downward so as to enter the water in order toguide the vessel until the same is ready to ascend to the surface thereof. Both members 11 and 14 of the track may be supported in any desired way, as by a skeleton frame or support 16 and the part 1 1 may have water or other means provided as is usual in some forms of devices of this character in order that the vessel may descend more readily, the form of track-way being such that the vessel will be properly sustained and guided both in its ascent and in its descent.

As will be seen in Fig. 2, the vessel is so constructed that in its descent it will enter the water and be submerged for a certain d istance of its travel, then by reason of its buoyancy, will rise to the surface in order that the passengers seated within the body portion of the vessel may readily leave the vessel.

The form of the vessel which holds the passengers may vary and may have its body constructed in substantially the form of a submarine boat. The body 17 of the vessel is substantially cigar-shaped and may be made of any suitable material either of metal or wood or the combination of metal and wood, and is provided with two keels 18 extending lengthwise thereof on opposite sides of its longitudinal center, which serve as means for the vessel to be guided along the track-way 10. At the forward part of the vessel may be arranged glass or other plates 19 through which the passengers may see, and at the sides of the vessel may be arranged port-holes 20 and at any desired point or points may be arranged a door, as at 21, which may be so held to the body of the ves sel that when closed it will form a seal therewith for the purpose of making the vessel watertight. As shown the door 21 is hinged at 22 on the outside, and on the inside thereof may have a gasket or other sealing means parts 11 and 14 may terminate in a and is provided with a plurality of latches 23 which are adapted to engage the members 24 carried by the door so that when the latches are forced over the position shown in Fig. 3, they will force the door inward and rigidly hold the same against the body of the vessel. The body of the vessel is provided with any number of seats, as 25, for passengers and at a suitable point along the same is arranged an outlook in the form of a drum 26 having openings therein through which the progress of the vessel may be ascertained. A seat 27 may be provided for the pilot whose head may enter the outlook 26 and at the rear of the vessel may be arranged a plurality of rudders 28 which may be controlled by the pilot in the usual or in any preferred way and by which the vessel may be steered. or guided lengthwise by the rudders 28 and upward and downward by means of the horizontally arranged rudders 29, thus causing the vessel to rise to the surface or travel along under the surface of the water as desired.

Any suitable means may be provided for supplying air to the occupants of the vessel or object, though ordinarily the air is supplied by means of two tubular parts or uprights 30 and 31. These uprights or posts may serve as masts to display the flags or for other purposes, and the forward post 30 may be provided with a funnel-shaped end 32 which is adapted to collect the air as the vessel travels forward and direct the same into the vessel, while the post 31 may serve as an exit for the air within the vessel thus creating a circulation of the same and providing thereby a constant supply of fresh air to the passengers. By this means passengers may be so held within the vessel that they will be properly supplied with fresh'air and the vessel is so made that the passengers may see what progress the vessel is making both before reaching the water and after the same is submerged.

From the foregoing it will be seen that an interesting and exciting amusement apparatus or device is provided in which passengers may be carried within an inelosed vessel down an inclined track and the vessel submerged as it moves forward; that the said vessel may be so arranged as to stay submerged for any desired length of time that the vessel or object may be under the absolute control of a pilot or other attendant; that the vessel may be readily and cheaply made to adapt it as an amusement device; and that simple means is provided wherebya circulation of air through the vessel is ob' tained.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. The combination with a track-way having an inclined part and a part terminating in a body of water, of a vessel having seats therein for passengers provided with means for creating a circulation of air within the vessel, rudders for steering the vessel lengthwise and upward or downward, said body of the vessel being provided with openings protected with glass to permit the passengers to see therethrough, and a door for the passengers to enter or leave the vessel.

2. The combination with a substantially U-shaped track-way having an inclined part terminating in a body of water, of a vessel adapted to hold assengers within the same and having tubu ar posts forming meansfor supplying air to the passengers and so arranged that it will be submerged during a part of its travel, and means for controlling the direction of movement both lengthwise and upward or downward of the vessel while in the water.

3. The combination with a track-way having an inclined part and a part terminating in a body of water, of a vessel having seats therein for passengers and provided at its ends with tubular posts forming means for creating a circulation of air within the vessel, rudders for steering the vessel lengthwise and upward or downward, said body of the vessel being provided with openings protected with glass to permit the passengers to see therethrough, and a door for the passengers to enter or leave the vessel.

4. In an amusement apparatus, an inclosed vessel having seats therein for p assengers and provided at its ends with tubular posts forming means for creating a circulation of air within the vessel, rudders for steering the vessel lengthwise and upward or downward, said body of the vessel being provided with openings protected with glass to permit the passengers to see therethrough, and a door for the passengers to enter or leave the vessel.

This specification signed and witnessed this twenty-fifth. day of June A. D; 1908.

CORNELIUS H. MGIEHAY.

Vitnesses M. TURNER, A. BECKER. 

